


Ready to come home.

by Andrayuss



Category: Maleficent (Disney Movies)
Genre: F/M, Short One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-14
Updated: 2020-08-14
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:34:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,888
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25891417
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Andrayuss/pseuds/Andrayuss
Summary: Based on the prompt: "Please... don't leave me."
Relationships: Diaval & Maleficent (Disney), Diaval/Maleficent (Disney)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 100





	Ready to come home.

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first time writing Maleval so I’m still getting my footing on identifying the characters, but please enjoy it anyway! It’s all a learning process!
> 
> Takes place after the first movie.
> 
> One shot originally found on my tumblr page: https://spirkup.tumblr.com/

It was days after the battle at the castle. Maleficent retreated back to the Moors and removed the rooty barricade from the perimeter she had created in order to separate her world from the human world. Diaval and Aurora stood from afar on top of a grassy hill, watching the faerie do her work in the sky. It was breathtaking watching her destroy something she once created in vain but now banishes with forgiveness. The giant roots reel back into the ground with as much ease as when they sprouted. When they completely disappear, it was like they were never there at all.

“She’s amazing, isn’t she?” Aurora’s soft voice said to Diaval. The man turned toward the small girl and saw the bright, toothy smile on her face. Her eyes were glowing with yellows and reds from the evening sun so brightly like Maleficent’s, it was almost like the two were biological related.

“Yes, she truly is.” He said, his eyes wandering from the girl back to the sky. Almost all the roots were gone and the sun was setting behind the castle. Maleficent was unable to be seen in the distance but left decaying roots in her path. “It’s time for bed, little one.”

Diaval accompanied Aurora on her walk to her home. Technically, all of the Moors were her home now that Maleficent claimed her as the new queen. However, she decided to reside in the old cottage that the pixies raised her in. She was still human after all.

The sun was gone and the moon had erupted its blue tone to the black sky. The stars reflected on the water that helped light their way down the familiar trails to the rusty old wooden house. When they arrived at the front door, Diaval went to open it for her but was stopped when Aurora reached out and put her hand on his.

“Thank you for walking me home, Diaval. And for everything you have done for me.” She said.

“It was my pleasure, your majesty.” He takes a step back from her to bow, one hand extending outwards and the other covering his stomach in the proper fashion. His gesture makes Aurora laugh and the sound sends butterflies to his stomach.

“Diaval, please. My coronation is not until tomorrow. I’m not queen yet.”

“You’re a queen in my eyes. Crown or no crown.”

Aurora softly smiles at him, and there is something about it that is so overwhelming Diaval cannot seem to place it. He raised his arms and wrapped them tightly around her frame, in which she did so in return, and hugged him so tightly she might never let go.

“I’m so glad you’re in my life, Diaval. I don’t know what I would do without you.”

Her confession struck him.

Left him wordless.

How, in human words, could he possibly explain how he would go to the ends of the earth for this girl, that he would give up everything he has for her, that he would fight with everything he could muster and ask for nothing in return but to see her happy?

Instead he hugged her harder, because one thing he has learned in his many years of being a bird is that actions speak louder than words. One day he’ll find the right things to say, but tonight was not that night. He didn’t want to ruin the moment by trying to guess them.

When they parted, he waited until Aurora entered the house and shut off the lights behind her before he left. He walked down the path that led to the stream, and took his time there as fond memories of mud fights filled his mind.

He twiddled his thumbs as he moved, his bare feet trailing through the leaves and grass that littered the forest floor. He was too ecstatic to sleep. His heart was beating far too fast for him to lie down. After the days he had, Diaval felt accomplished.

But there was a feeling in his chest that hasn’t left him since he was last at the castle. He’s been keeping it dormant in his chest while he was with Aurora in order to not to let his emotions show, but the girl has gone to bed and he’s all alone. There was nothing stopping him from thinking about the moment Maleficent gained her wings.

It was an astonishing moment to watch her transform from the helpless, defenceless creature on the steps of the King Stefan’s castle to her true and fullest potential. All that thanks to a pair of wings. But it made sense to Diaval, losing something that made you who you are. He felt that way when she first turned him into a human and thought he’d never see his beautiful self again. The confidence and passion that came out from inside her when she saved him and Aurora from King Stefan was breathtaking. She became her true self again. It was magnificent and terrifying at the same time.

Because now that she had her wings, what was to become of him?

_"I need you to be my wings."_ She once told him.

He didn’t have time to dwell on that thought when the sound of flapping emerged from above him. He looked up through the trees and spotted a figure flying across the dark sky, descending downwards and landing in front of him.

Was it a sight to see. The black wings on her back stretched outwards as if awaking from a morning slumber and each feather dazzled in the midnight glow. The life inside them was so evident it was mesmerizing to watch. Then they wrapped around her form as if to protect her and then rested behind her back in a relaxed position. Aurora was right about her wings; they did trail behind her.

“Is it done?” Diaval asked rather breathlessly, referring to the wall.

Maleficent nodded. “Yes. Every last root.”

“Congratulations, mistress.”

A silence fell upon them. Diaval’s gaze fell to the ground and Maleficent’s eyes stayed on him. He wasn’t sure what to do now. That terrifying feeling of being cast away had grown in his chest and he wasn’t so sure what to do about it.

“Diaval?”

He raised his head.

“I couldn’t accomplish what I did without you. Thank you.”

Her words sounded like a parting of ways. He knew this was coming.

He bowed his head to her, trying to keep his breathing under control despite his heart beating out of his chest. “You’re welcome, mistress. As you said from the day you saved me, I will be your wings.”

At his words, Maleficent looked at hers. They gently fluttered at the comment, and an unreadable look crossed her face.

“But I understand what happens now.” Diaval said, swallowing the lump in his throat. “You change me back into a raven and I set off on my way.”

A confused look crossed Maleficent’s face.

“You have those again,” he pointed a finger at her wings. “I understand that I am no longer needed to be yours.”

He waited for her to say something, or to raise her fingers and instantly turn him back to his original form without a word of goodbye. He didn’t like goodbyes, and he knew she didn’t either. They were one and the same like that, and in many other ways too, so he closed his eyes and waited for the sensation of growing his feathers and beak one last time.

But nothing happened. The feeling never came.

He slowly opened his eyes and was astonished to see Maleficent’s expression. Her red lips were parted and her eyes were glistening.

“No longer needed?” She repeated, her voice softer than before.

There was another silence between them. Diaval didn’t understand what was happening. Why wasn’t she turning him back?

“Mistress-“

“Just because I have my wings doesn’t mean I don’t want you anymore.”

Her words fell off her lips like a foreign language; confidence in the expression but a lack of familiarity in the phrase. It was the word _want_ and not _need_ that found a place in his heart. Her stance seemed passive but strong at the same time, as if she was ready to attack and submit at the same time. He’s never heard her make a sensitive confession of the sorts until toady with Aurora, and perhaps that moment awoke something inside her.

“Mistress-“ he tried again. “I don’t understand what you’re saying. You don't want me to leave?”

She approached him slowly, like a turtle taking its first steps on the sand after it’s been born. Diaval stood frozen in his spot, dumbfounded by her actions and for some reason very aware of the dirt under his human feet. She stood before him, only a foot or two between them, and had her eyes on his chin.

“Please…” her voice was so frail he wouldn’t be able to hear her if she wasn’t so close to him. Her hand touched his forearm and he felt the sensation of her sharp nails nudging the fabric of the clothes she’d given him. His human heart jumped in his chest at the contact, unaware that it could do that just from the touch of someone else.

“Please… don’t leave me.”

She leaned forward and pressed her lips against his. It was so subtle and light it was almost like he was dreaming, but the hand on his arm reminded him that he was, in fact, in reality. And an amazing one at that. One that he has dreamed about for many nights and many days in the years that he’s known her.

The bad feeling in his chest exploded into warmth when her lips touched his. It was like his insides were burning and the heat spread down his body to his fingertips.

When she pulled away, her eyes fluttered open, and he sensed she had the same feelings as him.

There was another moment of silence. He was never a man of words, not before and not now when they mattered the most. It was like with Aurora - how could he explain all the emotions he had for this woman?

“I don’t want to leave you.” He said truthfully, worried that his silence would give the wrong answers.

She took a breath of relief when he said that. He could see her eyes glow brighter in the darkness and the small smile that creased her lips, but he could tell she was still trying to diminish her emotions from him.

He didn’t want that from her. After today, he never wanted her to hide her feelings ever again. In this moment, he vows to praise every emotion she ever has so that she no longer has to pretend to be the misinterpreted evil dweller everyone thought she was. He vows to treat her like the person she is; Maleficent. A being capable of love.

He raises his hand to cup her cheek and brushes his thumb along her cheekbone. Despite the cold of the night, she felt incredibly warm. He learned forward and returned the kiss with more fiery passion than she had before, and she gratefully accepted it, falling into his frame like he was the sky and she was ready to come home.


End file.
